European stocks driven back by Greek worries and weak corporate figures

Redacción de Reuters

3 MIN. DE LECTURA

* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.8 pct after eight-day rise

* Greek stock market underperforms for second day

* Greek banking index touches record low

* Ericsson and Philips fall after weak updates

* Swiss stock market rises on SNB intervention talk

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Renewed concern over Greece and weak results at companies such as Siemens and Philips put an end to a winning run for European stock markets on Tuesday.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen for the past eight sessions, closed down by 0.8 percent at 1,475.84 points.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also declined 1.2 percent after a similar eight-day winning streak. Those gains were ignited by the European Central Bank's plans to buy government bonds to spur growth in the struggling euro zone economy.

Greek shares underperformed for the second day in a row. The benchmark Athens ATG equity index closed down 3.7 percent and Greece's borrowing costs rose.

Investors were worried Greece's new anti-bailout government would clash with the European Union over the terms of Greek's bailout. Syriza, the party that won Greece's election on Sunday, opposes those terms.

Fears that investors could move deposits out of Greek banks hit the sector. National Bank of Greece fell 11.8 percent, while Bank of Piraeus also fell 12 percent.

"I'm staying away from the financials and the banks at the moment, because they're in the firing line from any fallout from Greece," said Mirabaud Securities' European equity sales executive Rupert Baker.

Some weak updates from leading companies also weighed on European equities.

Siemens fell 3 percent after the German company posted lower profits at its industrial units, while Dutch healthcare and lighting company Philips slid 5.9 percent after cutting its 2016 sales and earnings estimates.

However, the Swiss stock market rose 1.3 percent after the Swiss franc sank below levels last seen when authorities removed a cap on the franc's value against the euro earlier this month. Traders speculated the Swiss National Bank was intervening to weaken the currency.

Gary Paulin, co-founder of equity brokerage Aviate Global, backing buying European shares, partly due to the support for the stock market arising from the ECB's government bond-buying.

Clairinvest fund manager Ion-Marc Valahu was more cautious.

"I am now using rallies to reduce equity exposure," he said.

Today's European research round-up (Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa; Editing by Alison Williams)